Seven simple ways to improve your digital marketing

31 October 2017

Here are some expert tips on how to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your digital marketing buck.

You’ve got an advertising game plan for your small business and now it’s time to finesse your digital marketing strategy. Even the smallest business can now use channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and YouTube to engage in content marketing at an affordable cost. Here’s some guidance on creating an effective digital marketing strategy.

1. Know your customer

“You must know your audience and their customer journey to identify the steps where you can make the biggest impact,” says Alex Conomos, Marketing Manager atSBS Australia.

Google Analytics is the best tool to identify, in granular detail, who is visiting your website and what they are doing while there. You’ll be able to track the journey of a customer by connecting their behaviour and channel performance through detailed reports and dashboards. Make sure to use the Audience tab in the Reporting section, where tabs such as ‘demographics’ and ‘geo’ can help identify who is visiting your site. Plus, the behaviour tab can help you understand what information they are viewing while there.

2. Give them what they want

Understanding your audience through analytics allows you to fine tune the content you’re producing to best meet their interests. Having relevant content on various platforms (not just social) can generate massive exposure for your business at a relatively low cost. Think topical blogs, instructional videos and evergreen (i.e. one’s that don’t date quickly) articles such as ‘What’s the right house/car/summer wardrobe for me?’. Done right, it will put a rocket under your search engine rankings. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon already, discover how investing in content marketing can help your business grow.

3. Partner with influencers

“Word-of-mouth is the oldest form of marketing and still the most valuable,” says Conomos. Of course, nowadays word of mouth is far more likely to an online review than a verbal recommendation from a friend or family member. That’s why winning over influencers – people with large social media followings who are aspirational figures or experts – is often a winning strategy. Research by Twitter found that 40 per cent of Twitter users had made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet by an influencer. Social influencer marketing can really helpbolster your bottom line.

“Find the influencers who have a legitimate and credible voice in your industry and work with them to share your brand story. You don’t need influencers with the highest number of followers either – it’s quality not quantity,” says Conomos (check out this guide to influencer marketing to learn how to do it.)

4. Be more social

Mauricio Escobar is the Founder and Global Head of Digital Marketing Strategy at eDigital. He points out that while businesses can’t control the conversation on social media, they can be an important part of it. So long as they have earned their customer’s trust, that is.

“Customers are far more educated than ever before. They are part of social media networks where thousands of comments and recommendations are being shared. It’s important that any digital marketing strategy not only pushes messages out, but also has a process in place to listen to social media commentary. Be sure you offer the tools and spaces for customers to rave about their experiences.” (here are some social tools that can help you listen and talk to your customers.)

5. Make it personal

“Personalisation is crucial to standing out from the crowd”, advises Kham Lee Tran, owner ofThe Marketing Angel. Emerging technology will see businesses utilising tools such as chatbots to advertise or communicate with prospects and customers directly. Personalised video marketing may one day become the norm.With personalisation set to explode, it’s worth considering (non-creepy) ways you can personalise your marketing. Among them, website, email and mobile content, paid media messages, discount offers and product recommendations.

It’s important that any digital marketing strategy not only pushes messages out, but also has a process in place to listen to social media commentary.

6. Bring in the professionals

If you’ve got the budget, a digital marketing agency can provide the expertise that maximises the chances of an effective digital marketing strategy. An agency will act as a one-stop shop providing copywriting, design, optimisation and social media content. They will have a range of analytical and optimisation tools at their fingertips to detect any issues in your website’s performance and offer appropriate solutions. They’ll also have experience across a range of industries, and be able to advise you on which kinds of content will get the best results for your business.

Don’t forget to protect your business online

The more important digital marketing becomes to your business, the more important it is to make sure you’re covered in the event of a cyber catastrophe. If you haven’t already, make sure to educate yourself on how to prevent damaging social media stuff-ups.Cyber protection insurancecan cover losses related to business interruption, cyber extortion and electronic data replacement. Your Steadfast insurance broker can provide advice on what insurance cover is right for your business.

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